MonsterID

MonsterID is a method to generate a unique monster image based upon a certain identifier (IP address, email address, whatever). It can be used to automatically provide personal avatar images in blog comments or other community services.

MonsterID was inspired by a post by Don Park and the Combinatoric Critters.

Installation

Install it with Composer

composer require 'sandfoxme/monsterid:^2.1'

Warning

Version 2.0.0 uses bad random generation and therefore is not recommended

Usage

Function-style

Get PNG as a string:

<?php

use function SandFox\MonsterID\build_monster;

// output to browser
header('Content-type: image/png');
echo build_monster('email@example.com', 150);

Put PNG to a stream:

<?php

use function SandFox\MonsterID\stream_monster;

// save to file
$stream = fopen('avatar.png', 'w');
stream_monster($stream, 'email@example.com', 150);
fclose($stream);

Export GD object:

<?php

use function SandFox\MonsterID\build_monster_gd;

// convert it to a different format for example
$gd = build_monster_gd('email@example.com', 150); // a copy of the internal gd object
header('Content-type: image/avif');
imageavif($gd);
imagedestroy($gd); // it's your responsibility to destroy the resource (PHP < 8.0)

Object-style

<?php

use SandFox\MonsterID\Monster;

$monster = new Monster('email@example.com', 150);

// output it to browser
header('Content-type: image/png');
echo $monster->getImage();

// save it to file
$monster->writeToStream(fopen('avatar.png', 'w'));

// gd
header('Content-type: image/avif');
imageavif($monster->getGdImage());

Upgrade from 1.x

• Expect different images to be generated

• Namespace SandFoxMe\MonsterID is removed, use SandFox\MonsterID

• Object style changes

  <?php
  
  use SandFox\MonsterID\Monster;
  
  // 1.x
  (new Monster('email@example.com'))->build(150);
  // 2.x
  (new Monster('email@example.com', 150))->getImage();
  

  • Size parameter moved to the constructor

  • build() is now getImage()

License

All graphics were created by Andreas Gohr. The source code and the graphics are provided under the MIT License.

Upgraded and maintained by Anton “Sand Fox” Smirnov.

Original implementation can be found here.